Today, the Harvard Business Review featured an article by Umair Haque on the importance of failure. While it is often difficult for people to look at failure positively, it’s usually failure that allows us to grow both personally and professionally. Failure gives way to new learnings, new solutions and ultimately, innovation.

“A system that fails to fail lacks the capacity to evolve — much less to gain resilience, or, above all, wisdom.”

Similarly, Seth Godin’s book “The Dip” discusses the importance of knowing when to quit. A product marketer that spends too long on projects that are likely to fail will have less success than a person that identifies the projects that are unlikely to succeed earlier in the development process. The difference is that the second person fails faster, allowing them to get to the good ideas quicker.

In a perfect world we’d all be successful at every attempt we made. Unfortunately, without failure we’d never gain the insight required to come up with truly innovative solutions.

Small to medium sized enterprises generally do not have the time or the man power to focus attention (or scarce resources) on functions that fall outside of their “core business”. In these types of organizations the marketing manager may have responsibility for the company’s human resource function, or the CFO may also serve as general counsel. With more responsibility, each employee is forced to prioritize the tasks they believe contribute most significantly to the bottom line.

Companies that cater to the SME market need to provide affordable solutions that save their clients’ time. Groupon has found a way to turn group buying power into an opportunity for consumers to test products and services that they would not typically have the opportunity to experience. Group buying networks exist for some B2B products and services as well, but could a similar concept be applied to a wider range of offerings? While this could account for the “affordable” part of the equation, easy implementation and fufilment might be more difficult propositions.

The SME continues to be a relatively underserved market. Though they do not have the same resources as a large multinational, they will spend their money on solutions that they believe will improve their businesses. With over 2 million small businesses in Canada – they may still be worth your time.

Today marks day one of Tim Horton’s yearly Roll Up the Rim competition slated during periods of the year when coffee consumption is typically at it’s lowest. I thought this would be a good opportunity to re-post a piece I wrote last year on the growing perception of the contest based on online consumer reaction. Is Tim Horton’s doing enough to keep customers interested in Roll Up the Rim to Win?

Please Play Again

Last month I blasted McDonald’s for their free coffee giveaway and praised Tim Horton’s for the brand loyalty they’ve developed, in part through their Roll Up the Rim campaign. However, just over a month into Tim Horton’s annual contest, I’m back to acknowledge the shortcomings of my initial comments.

The free flow of communication and information online have allowed consumers to have a much stronger voice when it comes to criticizing brands. No longer can companies hide from their deficiencies without feeling the wrath of harsh consumer feedback through various online channels.

Please Play Again

A search for “#TimHortons” on Twitter will quickly highlight the consumer perception of the coffee shop’s Roll Up the Rim campaign today. Many customers are clearly upset with both the success rate they’re experiencing and the quality of the prizes they receive when they do actually win.

Today, companies are forced to be more responsible for their marketing efforts, and while the online space allows for greater interaction with customers, it also comes with an open line for criticism. This is not necessarily a bad thing if brands are able to respond to feedback through positive change; however, companies unwilling to make the effort must tread carefully. If Tim Horton’s is not careful, they’ll quickly find more and more customers refusing to ‘please play again’.

In my most recent post I asked readers what Groupon could have done differently to avoid the grief they received from customers as a result of a misleading Valentine’s Day coupon.

But whose responsibility is it to indicate that prices may be higher than normal on Valentine’s Day? Should customers be expected to know that prices are subject to change on certain holidays?

After booking my Valentine’s Day dinner through OpenTable I recognized a disclaimer at the bottom of my confirmation e-mail:

“Holiday Reminder: This is a confirmed reservation for Valentine’s Day. Given that some restaurants create special menus, you may wish to contact the restaurant for details about any prix-fixe menus and pricing. Thank you.”

This simple disclaimer about a seemingly obvious condition protected OpenTable from potential Valentine’s Day scrutiny. OpenTable took the opposite approach to Groupon recognizing that it would be ill advised to assume a customer’s understanding of special circumstances. With new channels of online distribution at our disposal, we mustn’t forget the increased complexity of sales transactions and the importance of clear communication with potential buyers.

Recently valued at over 5 billion dollars, Groupon has taken the impact of collective buying power to new heights. Customers receive 50-90% off coupons to some of their favourite products and services under the condition that a deal sells beyond a set “tipping point” set by Groupon and its partnering suppliers.

Today; however, Groupon was under scrutiny for a deal with FTD that offered 50% off flowers over Valentine’s Day. The coupon redirected customers to a site that sold flowers at a higher price than on their regular website. Groupon has since cancelled the offer and have been working with FTD on a solution to remedy the negative publicity.

While it’s good to know that Groupon is listening to its customers and taking corrective action, what do you think Groupon should do to prevent this in the future? Though many subscribe to the belief that customers are always right – should they have been surprised that there would be a mark-up on flowers on the week of Valentine’s Day?

Today information can be found pretty much anywhere and more often than not it’s free. Increasingly consumers are less concerned with what information they’re given and more about how it’s presented to them. Wolframalpha is a perfect example of site that has revolutionized the way content gets displayed within a search engine. It doesn’t just tell you where to find your answers – it gives you your answers. In fact, in many cases it gives you more than you asked for (see image below).

As we consider new products and new ways to reach potential customers it’s important to consider how people want products delievered to them. Sometimes a new product may be right in front of us in existing products, just asking to be shown in a different light.

Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company once said that if he had asked his customers what they wanted they’d have responded “more horses”.

Two years ago if Apple had asked me what I wanted, the answer would not have been the iPad, yet here I sit writing this blog on my iPad. Industry leaders don’t just ask customers what they want, they get close to their underlying needs and build solutions that fill them.

If we always listened to our customers we’d never come up with the innovative solutions that change industries and revolutionize the way we do things.